Authorities confiscated Sam Bankman-Fried’s two private jets, value a collective $28.4 million, because the indicted founding father of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX — who was posed as a “flight risk” — enters the fourth day of his six-week trial.
Though the federal government seized Bankman-Fried’s two jets in an apparent move to make sure he and his family remain grounded within the US, the 31-year-old former billionaire reportedly never even flew on the planes.
The 2 confiscated planes listed in authorities’ forfeiture filing in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday: a Bombardier Global 5000 and an Embraer ERJ-135BJ Legacy 600, which cost Bankman-Fried $15.9 million and $12.5 million, respectively.
The Bombardier model Bankman-Fried owns is considered one of the most important purpose-built private jets in the marketplace, with a capability to seat 13 passengers by day or sleep seven by night, based on a list on charter airline VistaJet.
Though Bankman-Fried’s model had only a wardrobe and storage cabinet aboard, the plane could accommodate upgrades like a movie show and bedroom for travelers to enjoy on flights of as much as 6,000 miles — concerning the distance from Recent York City to China, where FTX was headquartered before Bankman-Fried moved its hub to the Bahamas.
Sam Bankman-Fried had his two private jets confiscated this week after being posed as a “flight risk.” Nonetheless, Bankman-Fried reportedly never even flew within the planes — value a collective $28.4 million.CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag
Meanwhile, the smaller Embraer plane Bankman-Fried also owned but never flew, could sit as much as nine and travel so far as 4,500 miles in record speed, based on the Brazil-based aerospace company’s website.
A separate court filing claims that Bankman-Fried got the 2 private jets as a part of a “handshake” take care of Paul Aranha — the chief of Trans Island Airways and the helpful owner of Island Air Capital, which operated Bankman-Fried’s planes.
The handshake also saw FTX loaning a sum of around $11 million to Aranha, which he repaid into an FTX customer account, based on Business Insider, making Aranha “considered one of the most important Bahamian victims of SBF’s cryptocurrency fraud,” court documents said.
On the time, Bankman-Fried was also reportedly gearing up to speculate $17 million in TIA via FTX Ventures in a deal that will make the jailed ex-billionaire joint owner of the Barbados-based plane airline.
When FTX imploded in November 2022, FTX debtors and the federal government placed an automatic stay on IAC, stopping Aranha from operating or selling the jets.
Though it’s unclear where the Embraer is parked, the Global has been sitting idle at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut since late January, Insider reported, and Aranha is attempting to appeal the automated stay.
A custody battle over the planes has since ensued.
Bankman-Fried owned a $15.9 million Bombardier Global 5000, which seats as much as 13 passengers. It’s reportedly been sitting idle at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut since late January.dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
FTX debtors — led by John J. Ray III, who’s been serving as FTX’s CEO to steer the corporate through its complex bankruptcy — claimed in August that they owned the planes in considered one of their latest efforts to claw back assets they lost within the cryptocurrency exchange’s demise.
TIA declined The Post’s request for comment.
Last month, the debtors were poised to receive tens of millions back in sponsorships it paid out for celebrity athletes like Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen Curry and Naomi Osaka, and sued Bankman-Fried’s parents for “tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds.”
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried’s six-week trial is underway, with former colleagues and friends already taking the stand to disclose recent details about FTX’s far fall from grace.
Former FTX developer Adam Yedidia testified on Thursday that he raised concerns concerning the massive sum that Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research, owed to his cryptocurrency exchange FTX in June or July 2022, just a number of months before it went under.
Also in Bankman-Fried’s fleet was a $12.5 million Embraer ERJ-135BJ Legacy 600.AFP via Getty Images
“It was a really large debt, and I desired to know that Alameda could pay it,” Yedidia, 31, recalled in Manhattan federal court of the powwow on the Albany luxury resort, whose investors include Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods.
Bankman-Fried then admitted that his firms were “not bulletproof anymore,” while he “looked nervous,” Yedidia testified.
Gary Wang, the crypto exchange’s co-founder and Bankman-Fried’s former college roommate at MIT, also admitted Thursday that Bankman-Fried directed him to jot down computer code allowing Alameda to have the “special privilege” of withdrawing essentially “unlimited” user funds on FTX — all while consumers were left in the dead of night.
Wang, pleaded guilty to his role within the scheme and is testifying as a part of a cooperation agreement with prosecutors.